Daily Hi Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXVIII, No. 112	Los Angeles, California	Tuesday, April 20, 1976
Easter break: tree timbers on cherubs in alumni fountain
By Peter Fletcher
Staff Writer
Students returning to the university after the Easter vacation may notice that something is missing in Alumni Park.
The fountain that Edward L. Prentiss gave to the university in 1933 was destroyed by a falling tree at about 4:20 p.m. Thursday, said James Bowie, chief of Campus Security.
“Thank goodness school was recessed, or someone could have been killed,” Bowie said.
All that is left of the intricate fountain is a solitary praying figure. The fountain—before the incident—had four figures above the words “home,” “school,” “community” and “church.”
The tree, with a trunk of about two feet in diameter, fell because ofthe high winds, Bowie said.
The tree and the wreckage ofthe fountain were cleaned up Friday.
Sally Brown, supervisor ofthe Physical Plant, said the plant has most ofthe pieces but she didn’t think it had the resources to put the statues back together.
She said the university would need outside help to reconstruct the statues, if that is the decision the university
makes.	.
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DT photos by Paula Daniels and Susan Wing
DT barred from Board of Trustees meeting
The Board of Trustees refused to allow two Daily Trojan editors to attend its meeting Wednesday.
Sherry Stern, editor, and Alix Riley, managing editor, said they went to the meeting with the understanding that the meetings are required to be open to the public under California law.
The Ralph M. Brown Act requires that meetings of local agencies and the governing bodies ofthose agencies be open to the public. The definition of "local agency" includes private, nonprofit organizations that receive public funding to be expended for public purposes pursuant to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.
Ned Bynner. a spokesman for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's regional office in San Francisco, said the university receives several grants under the program totaling at least $800,000.
The Daily Trojan editor is invited to the annual trustee conference. but Daily Trojan reporters have never been allowed into the board's quarterly meetings.
President John R. Hubbard usually meets with a Daily Trojan reporter and after the meetings summarizes the activities of the board. -
Hubbard was unavailable for comment Monday.
At the meeting Wednesday. Stern and Riley first approached Betty Murray, executive secretary to the board. She told them the meetings were closed to the public. They asked to speak with J Robert Fluor, chairman ofthe board, but Murray said he was unavailable.
Carl Franklin, vice-president for legal affairs, also spoke to the editors at the meeting. He reiterated that the meetings are closed and said that the university's lawyers interpreted
the Brown Act to exclude the university.
Franklin said Monday, “It is the opinion of our university counsel. Musick, Pealer and Garrett, that our trustee meetings are closed to the public.”
He would not comment on the university’s status under the Brown Act.
A letter was sent to Fluor in October. 1975, from Kevin McKenna, then editor of the Daily Trojan, and Stern, then managing editor, requesting that a Daily Trojan reporter be allowed to cover the meetings.
The letter said, "We feel that by having a correspondent at the board meetings, the Daily Trojan could offer a more comprehensive report ofthe board’s actions and thus better serve the university.”
Fluor responded in a letter: "The trustees have addressed the question of havingDaZ/j/ Trojan reporters at our regular board meetings several times in the past, and it was our determination that having nonparticipating persons at the meetings would severely constrain the functioning ofthe board.
"One ofthe much-prized facets of service on the Board of Trustees of a private university such as USC is the high level of freedom of exchange and frankness of opinion that are possible at our regular meetings.”
Stern and Riley have consulted with the Center for the Rights of Campus Journalists and Jonathon R. Adler, executive director of The Public Counsel. The editors said they plan to continue action on the matter.
The Board of Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the California State Colleges and Universities, both public organizations, hold their meetings open to the public.
USC seminar is stop along tour of Southland for Sweden’s ruler
Between visits to Warner Brothers Studios, McDonnell Douglas Aircraft and dinner at the home of Danny Kaye, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden found time to visit the university Wednesday.
His appearance closed the day-long seminar on the international and domestic problems of production and trade.
A group representing the Federation of Swedish Industries joined local business and academic leaders in the seminar activities that included a luncheon and panel discussions.
The seminar included talks on “Corporate Social Responsibility,” “Private Enterprise and the Role of Government” and “Technology’s Answer to Tomorrow’s Challenges.”
A total of 60 Los Angeles area executives attended the seminars held in Heritage Hall, along with six Swedish industrialists and businessmen.
The seminar began with an informal reception followed by a luncheon with President John R. Hubbard welcoming the group.
The talks by the industrialists followed, and the day-long activities ended with the visit of the Swedish king.
$1-million Saudi Arabian grant to establish King Faisal chair fund
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given the university a Si-million grant to establish the King Faisal Chair of Islamic and Arab Studies.
The grant will be used to establish an endowment fund, the income from which will support only that chair, or professorship.
President John R. Hubbard has named Willard Beling. a professor of international relations, as the first occupant ofthe chair. Beling is also the coordinator of the Middle East/North African
Program, director of the International Public Administration Program and director of the Overseas Program in Tunis, Tunisia; Beirut, Lebanon; and Shiraz, Iran.
The grant was presented to Hubbard on April 15 by Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, Saudi Arabian Minister of Industry and Electricity. who earned a master's degree in international relations from the university in 1965.
"We are indeed delighted with this grant from the government
of Saudi Arabia because it creates a new dimension in USC’s international relations curriculum,” Hubbard said.
Saudi Arabian students have been attending the university for many years; about 155 are currently enrolled.
Future appointees to thechair will be chosen by the university in consultation with the Saudi Arabian Minister of Higher Education.